FAA shuts down Punta Gorda Airport's control tower

The airport's only commercial carrier, Allegiant Air, will continue operations as usual for the time being. The tower will close permanently in April.

MICHAEL POLLICK JUSTINE GRIFFIN

The control tower at Punta Gorda Airport will shut down early next month as part of federal budget-cutting mandates brought on by sequestration, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.

The airport is among 149 smaller, regional airports that will be affected.

The Punta Gorda tower — open only since February 2012 and the linchpin of a $7 million capital campaign by the airport to upgrade flight tracking, security and ticketing — could be shut down as early as April 7.

The move could impact the more than 100,000 passengers that fly in and out of the airport each year and more broadly the region's tourism prospects.

For now, Allegiant Air, the airport's lone carrier, will continue operating as usual for now, said spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler.

“We are still considering all of our options, but our pilots are trained to fly in uncontrolled airspace,” Wheeler said. “We will be working with the airport and make the necessary adjustments in order to continuing operating.”

Allegiant pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves, over shared radio frequencies.

Aviation analysts and pilots argued that tower closings will elevate the risk of accidents.

Punta Gorda Airport officials reeled from the FAA announcement.

“This will have an impact on Florida aviation and it doesn't need to happen. This is disgusting,” said Gary Quill, executive director of the Punta Gorda Airport Authority.

“While sequestration was supposed to be a 5 percent to 8 percent cut across the board,” Quill said, “the FAA in this case chose to eliminate 75 percent of the funding for contract tower services.”

'Intended to inflict pain'

In all, 14 Florida airport towers will be affected by the $85 billion in federal cuts, including Page Field in Fort Myers; Naples Municipal Airport in Naples; and Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg.

FAA officials said they will do what they can to keep airports open and safe.

“We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of non-towered airports,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a statement.

The FAA is trimming $637 million from its budget through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Those cuts will come in the form of furloughs and tower closings.

At the beginning of March, the FAA issued a list of 189 towers that would close, but the list was ultimately pared by 40 after the agency determined some towers were in the “national interest.”

The U.S. Contract Tower Association said the 149 towers represent nearly 60 percent of the contract tower program — a figure that far exceeds the 5 percent cut being undertaken by the agency.

The carrier also operates regular flights from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, which like Sarasota-Bradenton International remained unaffected by the FAA cuts.

Concerns remain that Allegiant, which has been flying from Punta Gorda since 2008, may exit. The carrier abandoned Colorado's Ft. Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport in October, citing safety concerns over a lack of control tower operations.

Tourism officials said the loss of Allegiant, following the abrupt March 2012 pullout and subsequent bankruptcy of Direct Air — Punta Gorda's largest carrier — would have a dramatic impact.

“If Allegiant decided to pull out it would be devastating to tourism here,” said Lorah Steiner, director of the Charlotte Harbor Visitor & Convention Bureau.

“It is our only airline — they are in expansion mode — and we are one of their consistently profitable markets,” Steiner said. “I hope the feds are looking at the economic loss to those communities where these towers are being pulled.”

Looking elsewhere?

Though only 9 percent of Allegiant travelers drive north from Punta Gorda to visit Sarasota, according to a recent survey, that could change with the tower closing.

“I do foresee the closure of Punta Gorda tower leading to Allegiant changing locations over the short term,” said Federick “Rick” Piccolo, president of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

But Piccolo said that the chances of Allegiant coming to Sarasota-Bradenton International are slim.

“I don't think we fit the model that Allegiant operates in,” he said. “They tend to operate at secondary airports in the region.”